LOVED looking at your blog just now. A few times I was convinced that I know you, just based on the photos. Gorgeous. Where are you in MT? Are you going to be at Festival of the Book later this month? I’ll be there. Come say hi! yrs. Laura

Anne, keep slogging. I’m slogging right now, in fact, working on a new novel with all that entails– excitement, self-doubt, avoidance, deep breathing… The “it” in “It does happen” is sitting in a box at my feet, and other than that, I have evidence that “it” happened in hearing from readers and meeting them in real life. But at the end of the day, and at its beginning too…it’s just me sitting here in my office in my pajamas with tea, going for it. To all of us, then, let’s let THAT be the “it.” yrs. Laura KEEP WRITING NO MATTER WHAT!

Paul– be sure to say hi in Missoula. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bit overwhelming. I just read your beautiful piece about your dad. The comments were closed, so I’ll comment here. I’m so sorry for your loss. What a spirit he had– it came right through that photo and into my office and I wept. Button down shirt for a 15 stair commute. My father was that kind of gentleman. He used to change the side of the sidewalk he walked on if he was walking with a woman, in case a car splashed mud on her dress, he always said, but I thought it was that he’d take the hit if that’s what it came down to. We are losing a generation of gentlemen. I’ll think about Leland today, and you too, so fresh in this loss. yrs. Laura

Laura…thank you so much for your kind words, and for taking interest in The Commuter. At first I wasn’t sure if I should share such a personal story on a biz blog…but it’s the only one I have out there, he’s not having a service (yet), and I needed to vent. So there it went!

If I’m reading your comments with accuracy, it sounds like you have experience with the loss of a father. You bring up an interesting point, in that we are losing a generation of gentlemen…but hopefully some of us who have been inspired by such souls can carry that torch.

Time will help, and an event will happen soon where we can honor Dad…then we’ll spread his ashes on Lake Chelan next summer. I’ll be basing myself out of Ketchum for MFotB for some much-needed alone time, which I haven’t had yet. I need that sort of time to myself.

I’m nearly exclusively a nonfiction reader, with a special interest in the biography; truth and personal experience carry special freight that fiction can’t touch. I’m always inspired by, and have deep respect for artists and writers like yourself who bare their souls and share these sorts of personal experiences. Even if I haven’t personally gone through something like the subject matter of your book, your willingness to share your life with the world is a leap of faith and deserves high praise.

We’ll chat more in Missoula. Thanks again for your sensitivity, kindness, and meaningful words as I work through a very strange time that soon shall pass.

Paul, there’s a chapter in my book called My Father’s Blue Duseberg that I think might provide you some healing or at least a place to cry your eyes out. And definitely to help you know that you are not alone in your grief. Thanks for finding me and I hope to spend some time together in Missoula. More soon. yrs. Laura